<p>Hi, I just finished the first semester of my sophomore year. Straight A's and an A+ for ~5.2 GPA (weighted of course). However, my transcript is not as promising. In Honors Algebra II, I received a B+, a B+, an A, and an A on the final, giving me an A for a final grade. In Honors Eng. II, I received straight A's, however I got a C+ on the final, but still got an A as a final grade.</p>
<p>Do colleges look at the transcript as a whole, or the final grades/GPAs of students? Will this affect me poorly in admissions?</p>
<p>And on a side note, I am debating on which college will be my #1 choice. I am torn between Cornell and Johns Hopkins. I am leaning toward Cornell and plan to use my ED on either of these. Admissions for Johns Hopkins seem less selective, but I think I want to take a chance with Cornell. Any suggestions? I plan to go to med school.</p>
<p>Go to your guidance counsellor and ask for a copy of your transcript or for a sample of what goes out to colleges. A transcript is not the same as your report card. In our high school the only information in the transcript is the final grade in each class and the weighted GPA.</p>
<p>Your original question had two problems that made it impossible for strangers to answer.</p>
<p>The first was that we don’t know what a transcript from your high school looks like. Transcripts from my kids’ high school showed only final course grades: not quarter–or even semester–grades, not mid-term or final exam grades, just final course grades. Transcripts from your high school are apparently different.</p>
<p>The other problem is that for a lot of questions, it’s impossible to say “what colleges do,” because they don’t all do the same thing. At most highly selective colleges and universities, especially the ones that claim to practice “holistic review” of your application, if your school sends it, they’ll read it. But it may be the case that in large public institutions, they standardize applicants’ information as much as possible, the way UCs have their own formula for grade-point averages, in order to compare large numbers of applicants quickly.</p>
<p>If you were my kid, I’d tell you to assume that if the school sends it, the colleges will read it. That’s not the answer you want, I know, but if you assume it to be true, you’ll never be disappointed. In this one instance, I mean.</p>
<p>That’s a weird transcript format… I can’t imagine colleges caring too much about what you got on finals for classes since most high school transcripts don’t include that kind of information from what I can tell.</p>